Top Ten Most Produced Short Plays
9 Jun
This week, the USA's Educational Theatre Association have unveiled their annual list of most-produced plays and musicals during the 2021-2022 season. Despite the rollercoaster that has been the last twelve months, schools in Australia and across the world have continued to adapt and face insurmountable challenges to bring the joy of live theatre to their students and wider communities, and we think that's just absolutely brilliant! The show always goes on!
With a slew of national school drama festivals fast approaching, it may be worth considering ten of the most popular short plays being produced internationally right now for your entry. That's right, all TEN short plays that topped the ETA's Most-Produced list can be licensed through us including the ever-popular works by the ever-popular playwrights, Don Zolidis and Jonathan Rand.
So whether it's tried-and-true, or new to you, take a look at some of the most produced plays of the last year. Enjoy!
With a slew of national school drama festivals fast approaching, it may be worth considering ten of the most popular short plays being produced internationally right now for your entry. That's right, all TEN short plays that topped the ETA's Most-Produced list can be licensed through us including the ever-popular works by the ever-popular playwrights, Don Zolidis and Jonathan Rand.
So whether it's tried-and-true, or new to you, take a look at some of the most produced plays of the last year. Enjoy!
1. Check Please
Jonathan Rand
Short Play, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 7M, 7F
Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother's bridge partner, or a mime.
Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn't get any worse -- until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?
(we no longer license this title)
2. 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
Don Zolidis
Short Play, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 3M, 5F, 2M or F
It's the end of the world and hordes of rampaging zombies are about to kill you. What do you do?
Try your hand at kung fu against the undead? Attempt to reason with creatures that would rather eat brains than use them?
Turn to this handy and hilarious guide to survive the apocalypse! (Hint: sacrifice the weak is step number one.)
Learn More
3. The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (one-act)
Don Zolidis
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 1M, 1F, 3M or F
Two narrators attempt to recreate all 209 of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm in a wild, fast-paced extravaganza. To make it more difficult, they attempt to combine them into one gigantic fable using Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and other more obscure stories like Lean Lisa and The Devil's Grandmother.
Learn More
4. (tie) 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview
Ian McWethy
Short Play, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 6M, 7F, 3M or F
When two college recruiters at a prestigious university need to fill one last spot to keep their jobs, thirteen eccentric, dimwitted and slightly-insane high school seniors are eager to come in for an interview.
What seems like a simple task turns into a nightmare when the applicants turn out to be a reality TV star, a practicing vampire, an amateur magician, and others that are much, much worse. Each applicant's interview hilariously illustrates what NOT to do at a college interview.
Learn More
4. (tie) Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit
Jonathan Rand
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 8M, 13F, 27M or F
In the fairy tale criminal justice system, the characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes are represented by two separate yet equally ridiculous groups: the fairy tale police who investigate fairy tale crime, and the fairy tale district attorneys who prosecute the fairy tale offenders. These are their stories.
Learn More
6. Bad Auditions by Bad Actors
Ian McWethy
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 4M, 7F, 3M or F
A casting director has one day to find the leads for a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. But what seems like a simple task proves impossible when the pool of actors includes extreme method actors, performers who just don't know what to do with their hands, and one particular woman who may or may not think she's a cat.
This hilarious comedy will bring you to the last place you'd ever want to be...behind the doors of a casting session.
Learn More
7. (tie) Cut
Ed Monk
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 6M, 5F, 3M or F
A group of actors rehearses a play within a play within a play.
As the plot complications multiply, the actors begin to forget who is playing whom and who is the real director -- as opposed to the actor who is playing the director, or vice versa. Then they can't seem to remember who they really are, as opposed to the people they are playing in any of the various scripts. Then things start to get confusing...
Learn More
7. (tie) Our Place
Terry Gabbard
One Act, Drama, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 7M, 7F
The unassuming location of a dock extending out onto a small lake serves as the backdrop for five different stories.
On a cool autumn night, Jake arrives with Holly at a secluded spot...
On another day, early in the morning, Beth has plans to spend the day with her dad at their favorite fishing place...
The third story involves Al, who arrives at the dock with his family and has high expectations for their family canoe trip...
In the fourth story, Cory and Liberty are having a picnic lunch out by the lake...
In the fifth story, Stanley escapes the hardships of his life to blow off some steam...
The entire ensemble gathers on the dock together for the final scene. In a poetic epilogue, they all discover the true meaning of Our Place -- both comedic and tragic.
7. (tie) Oz
Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn't get any worse -- until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?
(we no longer license this title)
2. 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
Don Zolidis
Short Play, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 3M, 5F, 2M or F
It's the end of the world and hordes of rampaging zombies are about to kill you. What do you do?
Try your hand at kung fu against the undead? Attempt to reason with creatures that would rather eat brains than use them?
Turn to this handy and hilarious guide to survive the apocalypse! (Hint: sacrifice the weak is step number one.)
Learn More
3. The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (one-act)
Don Zolidis
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 1M, 1F, 3M or F
Two narrators attempt to recreate all 209 of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm in a wild, fast-paced extravaganza. To make it more difficult, they attempt to combine them into one gigantic fable using Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and other more obscure stories like Lean Lisa and The Devil's Grandmother.
Learn More
4. (tie) 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview
Ian McWethy
Short Play, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 6M, 7F, 3M or F
When two college recruiters at a prestigious university need to fill one last spot to keep their jobs, thirteen eccentric, dimwitted and slightly-insane high school seniors are eager to come in for an interview.
What seems like a simple task turns into a nightmare when the applicants turn out to be a reality TV star, a practicing vampire, an amateur magician, and others that are much, much worse. Each applicant's interview hilariously illustrates what NOT to do at a college interview.
Learn More
4. (tie) Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit
Jonathan Rand
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 8M, 13F, 27M or F
In the fairy tale criminal justice system, the characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes are represented by two separate yet equally ridiculous groups: the fairy tale police who investigate fairy tale crime, and the fairy tale district attorneys who prosecute the fairy tale offenders. These are their stories.
Learn More
6. Bad Auditions by Bad Actors
Ian McWethy
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 4M, 7F, 3M or F
A casting director has one day to find the leads for a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet. But what seems like a simple task proves impossible when the pool of actors includes extreme method actors, performers who just don't know what to do with their hands, and one particular woman who may or may not think she's a cat.
This hilarious comedy will bring you to the last place you'd ever want to be...behind the doors of a casting session.
Learn More
7. (tie) Cut
Ed Monk
Short Play, Comedy
Cast: 6M, 5F, 3M or F
A group of actors rehearses a play within a play within a play.
As the plot complications multiply, the actors begin to forget who is playing whom and who is the real director -- as opposed to the actor who is playing the director, or vice versa. Then they can't seem to remember who they really are, as opposed to the people they are playing in any of the various scripts. Then things start to get confusing...
Learn More
7. (tie) Our Place
Terry Gabbard
One Act, Drama, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 7M, 7F
The unassuming location of a dock extending out onto a small lake serves as the backdrop for five different stories.
On a cool autumn night, Jake arrives with Holly at a secluded spot...
On another day, early in the morning, Beth has plans to spend the day with her dad at their favorite fishing place...
The third story involves Al, who arrives at the dock with his family and has high expectations for their family canoe trip...
In the fourth story, Cory and Liberty are having a picnic lunch out by the lake...
In the fifth story, Stanley escapes the hardships of his life to blow off some steam...
The entire ensemble gathers on the dock together for the final scene. In a poetic epilogue, they all discover the true meaning of Our Place -- both comedic and tragic.
7. (tie) Oz
Don Zolidis
Short Play, Comedy, Drama
Cast: 4M, 4F, 4M/F
Reeling from her sister's death, Beth suddenly finds herself journeying through a world suspiciously resembling the film The Wizard of Oz. But with the yellow brick road sold to foreign investors after a financial meltdown, the Scarecrow reveling in his ignorant bliss, the Cowardly Lion acting like a paranoid sociopath, and the Tin Man embracing his emotional numbness, Beth wonders what role she plays in this classic story gone awry. A hilarious and heart-wrenching exploration of grief and perseverance on the road to acceptance.
Learn More
7. (tie) This Is a Test
Stephen Gregg
One Act, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 15M or F
As the ticking clock reminds you, only 60 minutes remain to complete this oh-so-important predictor of your future. But you didn't get the review sheets, the teacher doesn't like you and your classmates are blatantly cheating.
Time passes and the voices in your head remind you that though you are having trouble with the test, your personal life is far, far worse. Then you reach the essay question. The good news -- it's an opinion essay. The bad news -- it's in Chinese. And things aren't going to get better!
Short Play, Comedy, Drama
Cast: 4M, 4F, 4M/F
Reeling from her sister's death, Beth suddenly finds herself journeying through a world suspiciously resembling the film The Wizard of Oz. But with the yellow brick road sold to foreign investors after a financial meltdown, the Scarecrow reveling in his ignorant bliss, the Cowardly Lion acting like a paranoid sociopath, and the Tin Man embracing his emotional numbness, Beth wonders what role she plays in this classic story gone awry. A hilarious and heart-wrenching exploration of grief and perseverance on the road to acceptance.
Learn More
7. (tie) This Is a Test
Stephen Gregg
One Act, Comedy, Contemporary
Cast: 15M or F
As the ticking clock reminds you, only 60 minutes remain to complete this oh-so-important predictor of your future. But you didn't get the review sheets, the teacher doesn't like you and your classmates are blatantly cheating.
Time passes and the voices in your head remind you that though you are having trouble with the test, your personal life is far, far worse. Then you reach the essay question. The good news -- it's an opinion essay. The bad news -- it's in Chinese. And things aren't going to get better!
Looking to cut down a play or perform only part of a play? Please bear in mind that all cutting requests are subject to a separate owner approval.
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